The Hurricanes needed a victory -- in regulation, OT or a shootout --- against to the Tampa Bay Lightning to make it in. Instead, they got boat raced in a 6-2 loss on Saturday. The Blackhawks faltered against the Detroit Red Wings, allowing the Dallas Stars to clinch with a regulation or OT victory later Sunday evening. Instead, the Stars fell to the Minnesota Wild, 5-3.

“With the fingers crossed and the wishful thinking, you have to look at it knowing that things can happen in your favor if you just believe,” Chicago coach Joel Quennville said in a conference call with reporters Sunday night. “But certainly we got lucky. Now let’s take advantage of being lucky.”

Both the Rangers and the Blackahwks enter as the No. 8 seed in their respective conferences, not that the low seed is necessary a bad thing in the modern NHL. The Montreal Canadiens, an eighth seed in the a East a season ago, dispatched the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals and made it to the conference finals. The Anaheim Ducks needed six games to beat the 2009 Presidents' Trophy winners, the San Jose Sharks. The 2005-06 Edmonton Oilers made it all the way to the finals as an eighth seed.

And these aren't the typical No. 8 seeds.

The Rangers have dominated the Washington Capitals this season and could give them a go even without Ryan Callahan, the Rangers' second-leading scorer who is out indefinitely with a broken ankle. New York won three of the four meetings this season, including a 7-0 victory on Dec. 12 and a 6-0 win on Feb. 25.

"I think sometimes, (the season series) can work in your favor," Rangers forward Chris Drury, who played Saturday for the first time in two months, said on a conference call (via The New York Daily News). "I’ve been on teams that have done well in the series and lost in the playoffs, and vice versa. To me, it’s a whole new season and something we can learn from, having played against them, and had success in the year."

The Blackhawks have beaten the Canucks in the second round the last two postseasons. The two teams split their four meetings this season.

"I think with the group that we have we don't want to tip-toe our way to the Stanley Cup," Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieska told The Vancouver Sun. "If we're going to win it I think we'd prefer to go through the best and that being said, Chicago are the defending champs. Until someone wins it this year, they are the champs. So what better way to start than with the champs."

Player to watch:Alex Ovechkin, F, Washington Capitals. He’s coming off his lowest-scoring season in the NHL and the captain has a lot to prove this postseason.

X-factor: Caps goaltending. Coach Bruce Boudreau has had a quick hook the last couple postseasons and while the young three goalies put on the ice this season --- Semyon Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby --- have all been stellar in stretches, there is no clear No. 1.

Player to watch:Ryan Miller, G, Buffalo Sabres. He missed four games in a row with an upper-body injury before he played in the final two regular season games. While Jhonas Enroth was stellar in relief, the Sabres will be leaning heavily on Miller.

X-factor: Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger’s status. Out since March 8 with a broken hand, Pronger will likely make it back at some point in this first-round series. The team certainly struggled down the stretch without him.

Player to watch:Zdeno Chara, D, Boston Bruins. The Norris Trophy winner seems to be an unflappable character, but it will be interesting to see how he responds to returning to the Bell Centre in Game 3. He was ejected after a check that sent Max Pachoretty off a divider, a collision that resulted in a broken bone in the Habs forward’s neck and a concussion in March. To say it created quite a stir in Quebec and elsewhere would be an understatement.

X-factor: The Canadiens’ defense. The Habs will have to rely on rookie PK Subban and Co. along with the goalie Carey Price. The team lost veteran blueliners Josh Gorges and Andrei Markov to knee injures earlier in the season.
Schedule:Game 1 - Thursday (7 p.m.) Montreal at Boston
Game 2 - Saturday (7 p.m.) Montreal at Boston
Game 3 - April 18 (7:30 p.m.) Boston at Montreal
Game 4 - April 21 (7 p.m.) Boston at Montreal
*Game 5 - April 23 (7 p.m.) Montreal at Boston
*Game 6 - April 26 (TBD) Boston at Montreal
*Game 7 - April 27 (TBD) Montreal at Boston

Season series: Both teams 2-2-0.
Player to watch:Martin St. Louis, F, Tampa Bay Lightning. He compiled the most points (99) since the 2006-07 season, five fewer than this year’s Art Ross Trophy winner Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks.

X-factor: The Penguins’ health. Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma already said that he’s not counting on captain Sidney Crosby, out since early January with a concussion, to be back for the playoffs. But for a team that also lost forward Evgeni Malkin to a season-ending knee injury, staying healthy this postseason is at a premium. Defenseman Brooks Orpik played the final six games of the season after missing nearly a month with a broken finger.

Let's be literal when it comes to the phrase “destiny is in your own hands.”

By definition, that can't happen. Destiny is not controllable. Just look at the Carolina Hurricanes, who were a win away from a playoff berth entering Saturday night's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Hurricanes responded -- well, they took the ice at least at the RBC Center -- with a listless first period and never recovered en route to a 6-2 loss. Instead of the playoff returning to Raleigh, it will be the New York Rangers who get to face the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.
“I didn't feel the tension (early), but it mounted when it got (to a) two (goals),” Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice told reporters after the game. “Simple things became difficult to do. . . I think there was a chance (that Carolina) was in shock at 3-0. We felt alright going out and had come off the good night and then, boom. It happened so fast that you're shell-shocked a little bit.”

The 'Canes could not solve lanky Lightning goalie Mike Smith, who only had one victory in 10 games against Carolina. (That one victory did come March 26, the ‘Canes only regulation loss in their previous 10 games.) Smith made 42 saves, had one assist and came a couple feet away from scoring with 'Canes goalie Cam Ward pulled in the closing minutes of regulation.

Not bad for a goalie who will likely begin the playoffs on the bench in deference to the more veteran Dwayne Roloson.

By the time the ‘Canes got on the board with 7:29 left in the second via a Cory Stillman power play goal, the game was basically unsalvageable.

What a difference 24 hours makes. The ‘Canes cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers a night earlier, a game that put them into a position to earn the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference a couple different ways. A Rangers loss to New Jersey would have made the Lightning-Hurricane game moot. Instead the Rangers earned a 5-2 comeback victory over the Devils to set up a win-or-golf game for the Hurricanes.

Still, Maurice said he’d take the disappointment of just missing the playoffs over being an also-ran.

“It should make it harder (to take),” Maurice said. “It should make it more painful. The more you invest in something, the more painful it should be when it goes away from you. Still, we’d much rather be in a situation where we fought as hard as we could to get to this point and have to go through the pain of this result than if we would have let it slip away a month ago.”

With the end of the season, teams usually start to list the injuries they have hid the last several weeks. The first was captain Eric Staal, who Maurice said suffered a pulled groin three weeks ago.

“It got to a point last week (that) we weren’t certain we were going to have him in the lineup,” Maurice said. “He played so very well on limited legs and produced points.”

With Saturday’s loss comes the end of a stellar season by rookie Jeff Skinner, a favorite for the Calder Trophy. Skinner had an assist to bring his point total to 63, the highest of any rookie. His 31 goals were the third-most goals by a rookie, trailing New York Islanders forward Michael Grabner (34) and San Jose’s Logan Couture (32).

Soon the ‘Canes will assess who will be around next season. Forwards Erik Cole, Chad LaRose, Stillman and Jusi Jokinen, along with defenseman Joni Pitkanen will be unrestricted free agents. Maurice, who is in his second stint as Carolina’s head coach, even addressed if he might be back.
“(General manager) Jim (Rutherford) will make his assessment,” said Maurice, who took the ‘Canes to the playoffs after he replaced Peter Laviolette during the 2008-09 season. “I’m very proud of the way the team has performed this year.”

Someone’s going to have to answer for this. Surely it will be coach Paul Maurice, who hasn’t taken a team he has coached for a full season to the NHL playoffs since 2002 and who cannot account for a loss Saturday that cost the franchise millions of dollars.

No matter how highly owner Peter Karmanos and general manager Jim Rutherford regard Maurice, even they must see that it’s time for a change. Maurice is a good man and a good coach, but the past two seasons haven’t measured up, and Saturday’s flat-line with everything on the line defies explanation.

After last season's heart-breaking shootout loss in the final game to knock them out of the playoffs, the Rangers snuck their way into the postseason this year.

It wasn't exactly the same circumstances as last season, but it was close, and probably more nerve-racking for New York. To be fair, the Rangers put themselves in this position after having controlled their own fate for most of the past weeks. They were stuck in the position of on-lookers, just hoping the Lightning could hold the Hurricanes to one point or fewer.

"I think I am more nervous to watch than to play this one," Brandon Dubinsky said after the Rangers' 5-2 win over the Devils. "Just the nature of not having control of outcome"

Of course, all the terror was removed from the Rangers almost instantly in Carolina. Instead it was on the faces of the Hurricanes. They looked shellshocked, playing in a moment too big for them, eventually losing 6-2 at home to lose their shot at the playoffs.

"I haven't decided if I'm going to watch ... it might be too painful," Henrik Lundqvist said earlier in the afternoon. "But if we get in we can do some damage ... we'll see"

That we will. And if anybody can show it, it's Lundqvist. The Rangers' outstanding goaltender is largely the reason why the Rangers are here today. He has put his name in the Vezina conversation with a super season that saw him lead the league with 11 shutouts. He has played in each of the last 26 games, going back to Feb. 11. To show you how good he's been, just take a stretch a few weeks ago. In three games, the Blueshirts had a total of three goals. Still, they took five of the six possible points.

If the Rangers are to pull of the stunner of the Capitals in the first round, they'll need Lundqvist to be every bit as good as Jaroslav Halak was last postseason for Montreal. The offense has been feast or famine all season for New York, so they need one constant.

For the first time since his rather unceremonious exit despite winning a Stanley Cup in Tampa Bay, John Tortorella must love the Lightning. I'm sure he'd love nothing more than to thank them in the second round.

WHO CAN CLINCH: The New York Rangers' 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils Saturday afternoon moves the Blueshirts back into the eighth and final playoff slot in the East -- at least for a few hours. The Rangers maxed out at 93 points, two ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight, a game that will determine the conference's final playoff berth. Here's how things shape up:

The Hurricanes would clinch the final playoff if they beat the Lightning in regulation, overtime or shootout .

The Rangers are in if Carolina loses in any manner.

The only other race that will be decided tonight is the Atlantic Division, which can be clinched by the Philadelphia Flyers if they can beat the New York Islanders.

GAME OF THE DAY: New Jersey Devils (37-39-5) def. New York Rangers (44-33-5), 5-2 .
The chant of "Let's go Lightning!" heard at the end of Rangers' victory at Madison Square Garden will carry into the night. A game after they looked listless in a 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Thrahses, the Rangers got forward Chris Drury back in the lineup for the first time since Feb. 3 and he put in his first goal of the season in the first period.

Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk beat Rangers goalie Henrick Lundqvist with one of the better singular efforts of the seaosn to put New Jersey back on top in the final minute of the first period. The Rangers responded with unanswered goals by Wojtek Wolski, Ryan McDonagh and Brandon Prust, leaving the Rangers' hopes for a playoff entry intact.

GAME OF THE DAY - PART 2: Tampa Bay Lightning (45-25-11) at Carolina Hurricanes (40-30-11), 7 p.m. ET

Carolina needs to win to unseat the Rangers --- and 'Canes can do that in regulation, overtime or a shootout. They just need get two points in some shape or form. A victory would give the Rangers and 'Canes the same amount of points and they both enter with same amount of regulation/overtime wins (35), which serves as the first tiebreaker. The 'Canes, however, hold the second tiebreaker with a better overall series record against the Rangers.
Carolina is 8-1-1 in its past 10 games, but the 'Canes have dropped three of the first five meetings between these two Southeast Division rivals.

GOLF WATCH: Either the Hurricanes or the Rangers will be eliminated today (See above). Calgary, Toronto, Atlanta, St. Louis, New Jersey, Minnesota, Ottawa, Florida, New York Islanders, Columbus, Colorado and Edmonton are already mathematically eliminated.

A year later, the New York Rangers will really want to avoid a shootout.

The Blueshirts' final game a season ago was pretty strightforward: A victory -- by any means -- over the Philadelphia Flyers meant a trip to the postseason. That didn't turn out so well as the Flyers skated into the postseason with a shootout victory, but at least the Rangers controlled their own fate.
The Rangers lost that Thursday with a 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers, a defeat that allowed the ninth-place Carolina Hurricanes to stay within two points determine which team gets the final seed in the East.

“We laid an egg,” Rangers coach John Tortorella told reporters after the game. “We need to move by it was quickly as possible.”

Tortorella said next up for the Rangers is some scoreboard watching. And it’s not as simple as wins and losses in this tight of a race, especially with the new tiebreaking rules.

The Hurricanes will get their shot at the Thrashers tonight in Atlanta and could move into eighth place with a victory , be it in regulation, overtime or the shootout. A shootout victory by the ‘Canes would complicate things slightly since both Carolina and New York currently have 34 victories in regulation or via shootout --- the first tiebreaker. The ‘Canes, however, hold the second tiebreaker since they hold a better record in the season series against the Rangers.

However tonight goes, it will come down to this Saturday. The New Jersey Devils, whose playoff push petered out a few days back, have a chance to keep the rival Rangers out of the playoffs in a matinee tilt at Madison Square Garden. The Hurricanes host the Tampa Bay Lightning later in the day.

Instead of a shootout --- which is certainly a dubious way to determine a playoff spot --- we’re doing math. We have Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson to thank for that. He backed the change to the rule last August and while not many journalists like to pull out calculators, it’s certainly appears to be fairer way to determine who makes the playoffs.

"We felt this coming for the past three weeks," Tortorella said.

Here’s an interesting scenario: Hurricanes win in a shootout Friday and the Rangers beat the Devils in regulation or overtime Saturday afternoon. The Hurricanes would only be two points behind Rangers come Saturday night, but they would need to win in regulation or overtime since the Rangers would have the edge with 35 regulation/overtime victories --- that first tiebreaker.

Knowing that fact, could we see 'Cances gaolie Cam Ward on the bench for an extra attacker in OT since a shootout victory would prove meaningless?

While the ‘Canes and the Dallas Stars enter the weekend as the only teams outside of the top-8 in each conference, it does make for an interesting last few days of the regulation season.

A year later, the New York Rangers will really want to avoid a shootout.

The Blueshirts' final game a season ago was pretty strightforward: A victory -- by any means -- over the Philadelphia Flyers meant a trip to the postseason. That didn't turn out so well as the Flyers skated into the postseason with a shootout victory, but at least the Rangers controlled their own fate.

The Rangers lost that Thursday with a 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers, a defeat that allowed the ninth-place Carolina Hurricanes determine which team gets the final seed in the East.

“We laid an egg,” Rangers coach John Tortorella told reporters after the game. “We need to move by it was quickly as possible.”

Tortorella said next up for the Rangers is some scoreboard watching. And it’s not as simple as wins and losses in this tight of a race, especially with the new tiebreaking rules.

The Hurricanes will get their shot at the Thrashers tonight in Atlanta and could move into eighth place with a victory , be it in regulation, overtime or the shootout. A shootout victory by the ‘Canes would complicate things slightly since both Carolina and New York currently have 34 victories in regulation or via shootout --- the first tiebreaker. The ‘Canes, however, hold the second tiebreaker since they hold a better record in the season series against the Rangers.

However tonight goes, it will come down to this Saturday. The New Jersey Devils, whose playoff push petered out a few days back, have a chance to keep the rival Rangers out of the playoffs in a matinee tilt at Madison Square Garden. The Hurricanes host the Tampa Bay Lightning later in the day.

Instead of a shootout --- which is certainly a dubious way to determine a playoff spot --- we’re doing math. We have Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson to thank for that. He backed the change to the rule last August and while not many journalists like to pull out calculators, it’s certainly appears to be fairer way to determine who makes the playoffs.

"We felt this coming for the past three weeks," Tortorella said.

Here’s an interesting scenario: Hurricanes win in a shootout Friday and the Rangers beat the Devils in regulation or overtime Saturday afternoon. The Hurricanes would only be two points behind Rangers come Saturday night, but they would need to win in regulation or overtime since the Rangers would have the edge with 35 regulation/overtime victories --- that first tiebreaker.

Knowing that fact, could we see 'Cances gaolie Cam Ward on the bench for an extra attacker in OT since a shootout victory would prove meaningless?

While the ‘Canes and the Dallas Stars enter the weekend as the only teams outside of the top-8 in each conference, it does make for an interesting last few days of the regulation season.

The Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes are the only teams outside the top-8 in each conference who remain mathematically in the hunt for a playoff spot after Wednesday night’s action. Despite a 6-1 victory over the rival Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames didn't get the help they needed elsewhere. Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks -- one of which needed to lose -- both won, although Chicago's OT victory over the St. Louis Blues wasn't without controversy.

Carolina pulled to within two points of the idle New York Rangers with a 3-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. It was Cam Ward’s fourth shutout of the season and captain Eric Staal assisted on all three goals. Both the Hurricanes -- Atlanta (Friday) and Tampa Bay (Saturday) -- and the Rangers --- Atlanta (Thursday) and New Jersey (Saturday) -- have two games remaining.

The 'Canes and Rangers are currently even in the first tie-breaker, regulation and overtime wins (34). The Hurricanes have the edge in the second tie-breaker, points head to head. Carolina has picked up six over their four meetings to the Rangers’ four points.

"Up to this point, no team has done us any favors," Derek Joslin, who scored a power-play goal in the second period, told The News & Observer. "If we can get two more wins we definitely give ourselves a shot at making the playoffs.

"I know the Rangers are peeking over their shoulders, especially after a big win tonight against a team like that. Maybe they'll be gripping their sticks a little tight."

Neither the Flames nor the Stars were done any favors either by the referees or the replay officials in Toronto. The Chicago Blackhawks used an iffy second-period tally to help force overtime, where they eked out a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Trailing 2-0, replays appear to show Chicago forward Marian Hossa kick the puck across the goal. (Hossa may very well have tipped it with this stick after he booted it to make it a legal play, but it was hard to tell in the replays.) Even more difficult was determining whether the puck indeed crossed the goal line since Blues goalie Ty Conklin’s catching glove was over top of it.

After a lengthy review, Hossa’s goal is upheld — even though he appeared to kick the puck, which went off the post and never conclusively crossed the line. Considering the Flames’ recent dealings with the NHL’s war room, conspiracy theorists are given added ammunition.

Either way, the game’s in the books and the Blackhawks finished the night tied for seventh place points-wise with the Anaheim Ducks. Both teams are four points up on the Dallas Stars, who finish with games against the Colorado Avalanche (Thursday and Friday) and the Minnesota Wild (Sunday).

PERRY REACHES 50: Corey Perry’s third career hat trick in a 6-2 rout of the San Jose Sharks pushed the Anaheim Ducks forward over the 50-goal mark on Wednesday.

He became the third player in franchise history to reach that plateau -- joining Paul Kariya (1995-96) and Teemu Selanne in 1996-97 and 1997-98) -- and extended his points streak to 10 games in the process.

Perry, one of the leading candidates for the Hart Trophy, is six goals ahead of Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos in the race for the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy.